A Small Prayer
by fairyxlucyxdragon
Summary: Reincarnation was a bizarre system, Levi was sure of that.You could come back as anything, and if you were given the privilege to come back a human, there wasn't even a slight chance that you'd remember your past life. The Special Operations Squad did, so they were more than a little surprised when they found Eren didn't. Levi would've preferred staying dead. Ereri AU Reincarnation
1. Pink Paint

**Hey guys! This is my first SNK vic, so it probably isn't the best out there, but read and enjoy! If you have time, please leave a review!**

* * *

_Outside the walls, year 860_

Levi was standing on the shore, right before the vast amount of salty water that was the ocean. It stretched as far as he could see, glistening brilliantly with the radiant light of the setting sun. Ripples and waves were continuously being swayed towards him by the gentle breeze, bringing also the nose-burning smell of salt and seaweed. He was so near to the clear, glimmering water that he could practically see the foam retreating from where the waves dissolved once again to serene and still water, could see the seashells and even some fish far up ahead when he squinted his eyes.

Levi marveled at how terrifyingly beautiful it looked. The water was soothingly surging forward and drawing back, with a rhythm that Levi was regrettably foreign to, as if it was one with the wind, just as free, just as destructive.

_Just like him._

He clicked his tongue with discomfort.

"Tch."

His eyes reflexively fixed themselves again to the view, trying to distract his troubled mind with the scene of relaxing ripples moving smoothly on the surface of the ocean.

_Turquoise… the colour of his eyes._

This time, Levi openly clenched his fist, gritted his teeth, and with a violent turn, stormed off. He didn't bother look up and determine where it was that he was heading to, he had repeated the same routine so many times over the past years that he had practically memorized all the turns and steps he was supposed to take in order to reach that particular location.

He hated that place.

His feet would drag him there on random occasions, sometimes he'd be in the middle of a very important meeting, sometimes eating, other times cleaning like he had to purify every single atom that existed on the surface of the whole planet.

He didn't know why his goddamn pair of legs was so adamant on bringing him to this place. Everyone that knew Levi on a personal level, which was mostly being granted a greeting to their person by Levi, mind you, would know that he wanted everything organized, neat, impeccable, and perfect. No unscheduled event could take place in his presence; no uniform could be worn sloppily, paperwork filled lazily, or breaks taken randomly. Levi wanted to know what was going on and make sure that everything was in check even more than before now, because of what had happened to-

_Damn it all._

When he hit his foot and felt the dull ache, his eyes finally found the large rocks that had been placed in a line, almost like a border.

Which it was.

Lilies had been planted just a few centimetres behind them, and Levi skipped over them with one swift motion. He finally decided to glance ahead; he maybe knew the directions that led here, but up from this point, Levi would have to look around for one particular place.

In a graveyard.

It was not a common thing that one could always see, definitely not, what was common was burning the bodies of the dead. Land had been scarce before, after all, with no place to spare for things such as cemeteries.

There were no walls now though.

This memorial park had been arranged for the people that had granted humanity the freedom they had now, and, personally, Levi loathed the place with every fibre of his being. His desire to avoid it was so strong that he had been against it being built in the first place, even tried to destroy it once, but hadn't been able to.

The place held too many of his goddamned memories. Levi had lost many comrades over his years of being a soldier, so much that he hadn't even counted after his first year. He was a peculiar man; Levi only needed a cause to accomplish, something to strive for, or a single little piece of hope to cling to, be it strong or fleeting, he would be as devoted to it as a German dog to its master, would take any means possible to ensure it happened.

And he had sent these people to their deaths for it.

Of course, there was always the chance that they could die on missions. This little group had known that better than anyone else, even better than experienced veterans, and they had put their lives and honour away to achieve victory. They had stained their hands with blood of others, become corrupted by Levi's way of doing things, and Levi himself had never been held responsible for their actions. He had given them a door of escape, to freedom, to a pure life and a death of honour, but they had walked beside him anyway, fully aware of the consequences of what they were doing.

Maybe they had died heroes, but they had been prepared to die traitors as well.

No, maybe if not for one of the bloodstained things he had done, just one, Levi would've gotten over this too, but it was impossible at this point, not when Levi had committed the one sin he had never thought would be his.

He had killed one of them with his own two hands.

With a sigh, Levi noticed that he had already arrived.

He stopped right before the tombstone placed in the middle and crouched down, sitting on the grass that he didn't know how had appeared.

_Eren Jaeger_

Levi stared blankly, almost lifelessly, at the name.

His tombstone had been placed between his two best friends', surrounded by the others from his graduating class, and the people who had followed the small hope that had been him.

"What are you staring at, heichō?"

Levi's head snapped up at the familiar voice.

"Who are you?"

Levi could see clearly who he looked like to be the exact replica of, but he couldn't bring himself to believe that the image of him sitting on the tombstone was real, so he assumed his most formal tone that he used to lecture juniors.

"That's rude, heichō. Don't tell me you forgot my face already?"

"Who in the fucking hell are you?"

The teen chuckled.

"That's so like you, _Levi_."

Levi flinched at the tone. He had seen more than one strange occurrence in his life, but no one except one specific person had dared to call him with his name _and_ use that tone with him at the same time.

And Levi was sure as _hell_ that he was dead.

The very person that had called him _that_ had spent a ridiculous amount of time and effort to actually be able to do it naturally, so Levi knew from experience, no one could copy that so easily, and he daresay, without affection.

"Ah well, you have aged, maybe that's why. Has your memory been declining lately?"

Levi gritted his teeth.

Too casual. He was too fucking casual. Only _he_ had been this relaxed around him.

"I asked your identity, intruder."

The teen sighed.

"Alright, alright, you really have forgotten. Eren Jaeger, remember? From the 104th trainees squad?"

Levi's voice was as calm as he could possibly manage.

"You are an impostor. What is your real identity?"

"That's just ouch."

Levi didn't bother answer, trying to read him and his movements with his usually piercing gaze.

It didn't work.

Only _he_ had managed to avoid that, and that had only happened once.

"It's been a long while, hasn't it? Lets see…ah, ten years have already passed! How have you been doing, heichō?"

And that was, ladies and gentleman, officially Levi's limit.

"Don't screw with me."

He managed to hiss through gritted teeth,

"How can you be here?"

The teen rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I can go anywhere else."

Levi's senses returned to him.

"Who are you?"

"Eren."

And Levi finally dared to voice the forbidden word.

"Eren is dead."

"I know."

Levi couldn't help but reconsider, as ridiculous as it was. Eren had always been the very personification of hope to everybody, and he had held that up until the bitter end.

Eren was hope.

And for Levi, something much more than just that. Before him, Levi had been nothing more than an uptight soldier that Erwin and Hange had futilely tried to crack the shell of, seemingly devoid of emotions, cold, and distant. Then, when _he_ had entered his life, Levi hadn't even trusted him as a person and instead took account only of the potential salvation he could bring to the human race.

Then, he had started to know Eren as himself. The boy had been two things, a promising soldier, and, something completely different, an overly determined, annoyingly loud little brat. Levi hadn't particularly liked him at first, but Eren had, like a sorcerer, mystically managed to change almost everything that was Levi, and become a necessary existence.

Levi had never admitted or declared it out-loud, Eren had never required it to be said in order to know, but Levi had loved him.

And his feelings had been reciprocated.

So, when it was Eren being spoken of, who himself was hope, miracle, and mystery combined, even a realist such as Levi himself would rethink and reconsider.

Levi wanted desperately to cling to that slight, almost inexistent hope anyway.

To free himself of the heavily burdening responsibility of what he had done to Eren, and maybe, just maybe, because he had missed him.

_Terribly_.

"Eren."

The teen gave no visible response, so Levi inquired further.

"Brat, I'm asking if this's you."

At this point, even Levi's iron self control wasn't enough to contain all the hidden desperation and the hopeful want he felt, some of it slipping out unintentionally.

"Who?"

Eren sounded foreign.

"Eren?"

Levi asked again.

Eren laughed a good long laugh, almost hysterical.

"Ah, heichō, Eren's dead."

Levi's hope was yet to slip away.

"You said that you were Eren."

The teen chuckled.

"Heichō, you know best of all that Eren's indeed very much dead,"

Levi wanted to cut his ears off at this point,

"After all, weren't you the one that killed him?"

* * *

_**Present day**_

Levi frowned as he checked the time on his rather shiny Rolex. _2.43. _Even though he had sunglasses shielding his eyes from the harmful rays of the sun, and because he had fortunately foreseen that he'd need sunscreen his skin would still be pristine white when he was home again, he was sweating like fuck in his dark blue polo shirt and pair of black shorts, although he was in his car and it was less boiling than it was outside. The air conditioning system in his car wasn't really able to cool the air completely, since Levi had an arm outside his window to keep the cigarette he was smoking outside his car. He maybe smoked, but reeking of such a horrid smell was against his policies.

Looking around at all the people wearing short ass skirts, shorts, and thin, cotton t-shirts, he probably looked like he was about to attend a funeral, or like some freaky vampire with all the avoiding sun and wearing black crap.

Levi didn't know why he had agreed to go along with Hanji and Erwin's plans anyway. The two had come up with this most fantastic idea to get Levi to socialize, since said raven-haired man wasn't really a fisher for friends, and Hanji had half-blackmailed, half-persuaded Levi into catching a movie with them.

Of course, it was for their benefit too.

Since they were freaking _teenagers_, and both had extremely overprotective parents, Levi was their excuse to go out freely and have fun until they were high.

Clearly, reincarnation didn't work the way Levi would've supposed it did.

Of course, they remembered their old lives regardless of their ages, and Levi had to admit, it was funny to see a kid Erwin with the mentality of a veteran who had lost many things to war, but thanks to the normal and relaxing lifestyle Erwin now had, Levi rarely ever saw him act like his old self. He was at some point even grateful, Erwin hadn't gotten a childhood in his past life, and so he was having as much fun as he could, and whether Levi liked to admit it or not, Erwin was one of his few friends, probably close enough to call his best friend, at some point even a brother, but Levi wasn't cheesy like that, no.

A younger Hanji had absolutely no difference from an older one, except maybe now she was a bit more absurd than before, not being in a war and not having to fight for one's life probably had that effect on people, Levi guessed. Both were highschoolers, and as luck would have it, attending the same school.

Levi uttered a rather colourful chain of curses. He was already half an hour late.

The café that Hanji had chosen as meeting place, Café Titania, was at least ten minutes away if he drove, judging by the traffic, and there was a possibility that they couldn't make it in time to the movie if they wasted any more time. For Levi, who took pride in his skills of organizing and pre-scheduling stuff, this was a shaming failure.

So, when a car flashed away at speed and the one in front of his soon followed it, Levi thanked every single deity he could think of, since he was practically saved from Hanji's mockery that he had been sure would eat away his brains.

With a two-minute drive that Levi spent mumbling to himself about brats and how they were tiresome, the sign that said _Café Titania _entered his sight. Levi parked his black Porsche in a spot that was, fantastically, empty, before practically running to the café.

He threw the doors open, and the cool air hit him in the face as soon as he did. Apparently, the air conditioner was working pretty well.

As expected, Hanji and Erwin were sitting at the closest table to the counter, talking to a blonde, blue eyed, rather tall man. Levi composed himself and calmly made his way towards them, Hanji barely noticing him before Levi snatched the glass of cola in her hands that was by the look of it untouched, but in danger of being sipped from in seconds.

Good, Levi wouldn't so much as _touch_ something that another had eaten or drunk from.

"Hey!"

"Shut up, four-eyes. Outside is fucking _hell_ right now, and I'm thirsty."

Levi couldn't down it like he wished he could have, since the acidy drink burned his throat, but before either Erwin or Hanji could say anything else, the glass was empty and discarded on the table.

"That was just…interesting, Levi."

He spared a glance at Erwin, and his gaze was just screaming "shut up", mind you, but the younger man was not affected by it, having known Levi for over a lifetime.

"If you want, I could bring you something cold to drink."

Levi turned his head in the opposite direction,

"Put it in a bottle, brat, I haven't got enough time to spare. While you're at it, get Connie to put some alcohol in it."

"Aren't you going to drive?"

"Yeah. Got a problem?"

The blond man shook his head with a serious face, as though it was a life death situation, his almost waist length ponytail flying back with the sharp turn he made, almost running to the kitchen.

"Ah Armin, can you bring me a some new cola too?" Hanji shouted, trying futilely to glare daggers into Levi.

Armin made a motion with his hand that told Hanji he had heard what she said and hurried away, into the kitchen.

Levi, Erwin and Hanji were regular customers of Armin's café. Frankly, Levi didn't know why the other two were so fond of the place, but his reason for always coming here was having a little bit of privacy and the incredibly serene atmosphere the place had. Café Titania was neighbor to two other cafes that were far more crowded and spacious than Armin's humble workplace, but they were lacking in terms of being relaxing; with the loud music torturously banging and ruining Levi's ears, people constantly talking, laughing, and looking at him, orders taking forever to arrive, and not to mention that it was impossible to gather one's mind to actually do something useful. Those kinds of places were just too crowded for his taste, and Levi, who had seen about every major country in the world, could say that the ambience that Armin's café provided was unique to this place.

Of course, there was the fact that most of the members of the Special Operations Squad were always gathered in this café too.

Connie, Sasha, and Jean were working in the café. Apparently, Sasha was an excellent cook, and Connie, since the two were together, had learned how to make amazing coffee and cocktails, while Jean was serving as a waiter. Armin was mostly just the brain anyway, so having the extra help was welcome.

Hanji and Erwin were allowed to this place even when adults or Levi wasn't with them, because apparently their parents found Armin to be a "reliable young man", and when they had time, they were always here.

The only person that not everyone had met yet was Historia, who had been reincarnated as a freaking _princess_, but Levi was sure that she at least exchanged letters with the other brats.

The Titan Shifter group was alive and well too, Levi noted, although he took no pleasure at all in seeing them. As it had been with Hanji and Erwin, Ymir had de-aged; she was attending the kindergarten division of the two aforementioned students' school, although Reiner, Annie and Berthold had, like the other members of the Special Operations Squad, aged, now teachers at said school.

Which was precisely why Levi had made the mistake of picking up Hanji and Erwin only _once_, and would _never_ repeat it.

Levi knew that he couldn't reprimand them for their actions in their past lives, since they led new ones now and weren't criminals in this one, but the weight of the sin they had committed against humanity was so great, Levi could never forgive them, or look at their faces without feeling disgusted.

So, he had decided that avoiding them was better than getting arrested for murder, which he probably wouldn't mind if he could indeed kill them.

He had met all these people by accident of course.

Mikasa, however, was a weird case.

Levi noticed that he had a new Whatsapp message, sliding his finger over his phone's screen and unlocking it.

The message was from one of his sisters.

_I won't be home for a week. Petra is with me. Business trip._

Levi sighed.

He knew for a fact that Petra was definitely not with Mikasa and instead probably outside, having fun with Auruo, Erd, and Gunter, but he let it slide just this once, since it was most likely that Petra would be joining Mikasa tonight, or in the worst case, tomorrow.

He didn't even know when they had turned into a real family, but it had happened anyway.

When he was about eight and had been thrown out by his thirteenth foster family, a very rich, and I mean _filthy_ rich, man and his wife had adopted him. They had treated him no different than they treated their own daughter (Levi was grateful for that), Petra, and Levi had actually went into shock upon finding that she was the _real_ Petra, and that she had her memories just like him. By the time he was thirteen though, the real shock had come.

Mikasa had been adopted into the family too. Of course, Levi had questioned her about her memories, Mikasa remembered just like everyone, and shitty as it had been, they had lived the last fifteen years together. There was a seven-year age gap between him and Petra, and about three years with Mikasa, so it had been a mild surprise when Mikasa had taken over the business this year, when their father had declared that he was going to pass it down. Levi had his own shit to mind, and Petra was still a student anyway, but Mikasa was a genius in business, apparently.

What was even more surprising than the fact that Mikasa and Levi had actually warmed up to each other was that even though Mikasa had had a different family in the past, with Eren's parents, and Petra had had an actual family anyway, they had all come together, like someone had tied them with a string, just like how Levi had one day found this café, and everyone in it.

And the only one from the past that no one had heard of was _him_.

Eren.

Mikasa had searched and searched and probably was still searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found, nowhere reachable or detectable.

So, Levi had grudgingly accepted that he never would be able to see Eren again.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Armin handed Levi a thermos bottle, and Levi was sure that there was '_long island iced tea_' inside it; Connie would never dare put little alcohol in his drinks, and said drink was, by far, his favourite. He got up, watching as Armin handed Erwin and Hanji two cans of Coca Cola, and they exited the place. Armin would write it down, and Levi would pay at the end of the week anyway.

"Come on, brats."

"I don't remember being a brat, Levi." Erwin said, switching to his old self.

"I _am_ fourteen years older, so suck it and follow me if you want a ride."

Hanji and Erwin obediently followed Levi.

* * *

When Levi was back to the café, he was sure that he had spent the worst day of his life.

First, because of Hanji's need to stop every five minutes, they hadn't actually been able to make it to the movie Levi had wanted to see, biography of "some weird guy" as titled by Hanji, and said eccentric person had dragged both Erwin and Levi to watch some low-budget science fiction movie. Fortunately, it hadn't taken too long for the film to finish, although to Levi's dismay, Hanji had managed to alter his GPS and lead him to an amusement park instead of the nearest McDonalds.

He sometimes forgot that Hanji used to be the head of experiments in their old life and that she was a computer genius in this one.

Regardless, since even Erwin had been having fun, Levi had agreed to stay for a while. The amusement park was a little bit away from a lake that Levi had heard had very nice scenery, so he had driven there and decided to spend his time reading a book or something. When he had gone there though, Levi had found that the idea to swim was good enough anyway. Since he was always carrying spare clothes in his car, and a pair of board shorts was amongst them, Levi had left everything in there, locked the car, and taken a dip.

It was hot, really very hot, so much that if someone were to leave a glass of water outside, it would probably evaporate in less than an hour, and if it weren't for the heat, Levi would've never swam in a place that he wasn't sure was clean, but the water was as shiny as crystals and he could see through it perfectly, so he had decided that this could be an exception.

Of course, water was good for Levi, but unfortunately, not so good for his car keys.

Levi had taken his keys with him, having put them in his board shorts reflexively.

When he got out, Levi openly cursed himself for getting a Porsche and not some normal car that had normal keys. His were mechanical, and water and mechanics weren't really matching things. When Levi found that the keys were not working, he first did a small brainstorm on what to do, being not exactly able to think clearly.

His house keys were also in the car, and there was no way he could get in their goddamned penthouse without those after all the effort Mikasa had put into finding the best door. His car had spare keys, but one was in his room and the other with Mikasa, so those were impossible to reach. He considered calling his adopted sisters, but Petra probably had her phone on mute and Mikasa was outside the city, not to mention that his phone too was in his car, beside the keys. Catching a taxi would be impossible, and he didn't have his wallet anyway, so, Levi concluded, the only way he could go back to the amusement park was to walk.

Seriously, Levi would've been fine with all this, except one thing that was just gross for him.

He was wearing nothing but board shorts, and those were wet.

Levi walked back to the amusement park, burned because the sunscreen he had put on wasn't water resistant and the main bottle was still in his goddamned car. He ignored the people as he walked past them, not minding the weird stares he got.

When he found Hanji and Erwin, Hanji was trying to get high on cotton candy, and Erwin trying to calm her. Of course, Levi couldn't stop Hanji from making fun of him and laughing until her stomach hurt too much to do so, and couldn't keep Erwin from making witty comments about his attire, but he used their phones to call their parents.

Erwin's mom decided to give Levi a drive and do him a favour; since this was the first time something like this had happened.

And Levi still was in his freaking board shorts.

She had driven Levi back to Café Titania, and when Armin, surpassing a laugh, came over to ask him what in the name of sanity he was wearing, Levi couldn't care less.

"Shut up, brat. Get Connie to make me another long island."

Armin hadn't even moved when Levi turned and walked inside the kitchen.

Sasha didn't notice that someone had entered the kitchen immediately, too busy cooking something, but Connie did, frozen solid when he noticed who it was and what said person was wearing.

"Listen to me, shitty brat," Levi said with a voice as less irritated as he could manage, but it sounded scarier to Connie the more he tried,

"First find me some clothes. Then give me Armin's phone. After that make me another Long Island. Got it?"

Connie gulped.

"Yes sir."

XXXXXXXXXX

So that was why Levi sat sipping his beloved drink, hair slightly wet but still neat, Armin's oversized shorts and Connie's alcohol-reeking t-shirt on him, said blond man's phone in hand.

He found Mikasa on Armin's contacts, ignoring the hearts and other lovey-dovey things that Armin had seen fit for typing next to her name, and sent her a text message.

_Mikasa._

Mikasa was usually early to answer phone calls or text messages, but the speed surprised even Levi.

_Armin_

_I'm Levi._

_Oh._

_My wallet, house keys and phone are in my car, but the keys aren't working._

He avoided telling her that he had actually swam in a lake with his car keys in his pocket, mostly because he knew that Mikasa would find this to be valuable for blackmailing and mocking purposes.

_Stay over at Armin's or Erwin's. I don't care._

_That's what I was planning_, _but do you think you can send my keys with someone?_

_I left those in the apartment._

Well, this was just shitty.

_Petra?_

_I need her to help me with stuff._

_Shit._

_Take care._

At times like this, Levi absolutely hated Mikasa.

That was when he heard a mild clatter coming from the far back of the café. Levi wasn't usually curious so he just continued to sip his drink and mind his own business, until he actually heard Jean stutter.

"Y-you… couldn't be…"

Now now, what was it that had managed to get Jean to act so much like a damn sissy?

Levi glanced over.

His heart almost stopped.

* * *

What brought Levi back to his senses was Armin's incredulous voice.

"Do you see what I see?"

"What, the broken teacup?" Levi answered, too distracted.

"No."

"Jean?"

"The other one."

That was when Levi decided to get up and walk over to where the commotion was taking place, Armin hot on his tail.

While Levi was busy staring at the person that had caused Armin's fine china porcelain teacup's demise, said man firmly held Jean's shoulder and led him elsewhere, both stealing glances to their backs after every two steps.

Levi flopped down onto the empty chair, lighting a cigarette.

"Hey there, brat."

Said man looked up from the mess that had once held his Earl Grey tea.

"Are you even old enough to call me a brat?"

No, Levi was sure that this kid was indeed Eren, just an older, taller and more muscular version of him.

"Probably."

"You shouldn't smoke indoors, you know."

Levi cocked an eyebrow.

"You have a problem with that?"

"Actually I don't, but there are kids inside the café, maybe it would be better if you asked them."

Eren had indeed gotten better with witticism.

Levi exhaled but continued smoking anyway.

"They're out of the vicinity."

"Your choice then, Superman."

They stayed silent for a while, Eren fiddling with his phone and Levi taking his appearance in with a lopsided grin.

"Listen, I'm really thirsty, and those waiters are looking at me as if I'm a freaking ghost, so I would appreciate it if you had something I could drink."

"Long Island?"

"You drink _and_ smoke?"

"Nobody's perfect."

"Well, whatever. I can handle _that_ little alcohol anyway."

Levi nodded and brought his half finished long island iced tea from where he had left it, and Eren gratefully accepted the drink, downing it in one swig.

"Woah, you don't look like the type to be able to handle liquor, take it easy."

"Nah, I've drunk heavier things. Besides, this shit tastes nice."

"I have great taste."

"Sure do. By the way, what's your name?"

Levi froze.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm not. By chance, do I know you?"

Levi couldn't say anything for a few seconds, until Eren waved his hand in front of hic face to wake him up.

"Levi Ackerman."

"Oh my god, are you the author of the 'Titans' Age' series?"

Levi nodded dumbly, trying to process the information in his head.

"I'm Eren Jaeger, nice to meet you."

He stared a bit more.

"Excuse me for a moment."

* * *

"What do you mean he doesn't remember? We all remember!"

Levi rolled his eyes.

"But _he_ doesn't, Armin."

After Levi had successfully dragged Jean and Armin into the kitchen, Sasha had thought that the world for sure was ending, but it apparently was a different issue.

Levi watched as Armin went into thinking mode.

"He was missing parts of his memory in the past too, but forgetting his whole life is just…weird. Amongst us, I mean."

Levi knew that he wasn't supposed to make any sound, as did the others, because Armin in thinking mode would talk to _himself, _and if you disturbed him, you'd have to wait for him to remember what he was saying.

"That was caused by his father so… Does anyone know how Eren died?"

Armin had died just a little bit before they had achieved victory, so had Mikasa, which was probably why he didn't know of what had happened to Eren.

"Because there are two types of amnesia. One is like you're forced to forget, happens when you're hit in the head or something, and the other is a person locking their own memories away when something that he doesn't want to remember happens. Either way, it all comes down to how Eren died."

Levi gritted his teeth.

There was no way Sasha, Connie, or Jean would know, none of them had seen the end of the war anyway. Levi was the only one that had made it except Eren, and presumably the only one that knew how said brunette had died.

_Shit, shit, shit, fucking shit._

Levi hurriedly exited the room and sat back beside Eren.

"Oh, you're back."

"Yeah."

His voice was a bit strained, but luckily, Eren didn't notice it.

"So, why are you wearing those oversized things?"

Obviously, Eren had watched him rather closely.

"Long story short, my keys, clothes, and phone are in my car, and I can't unlock its doors."

"Sounds pretty shitty."

"It is."

Eren continued texting someone, Levi had decided that it was what he was doing by the look of it, and looked up a few moments later.

"Where do you live?"

"You know the trump tower residences?"

Everyone in the city used them to give directions, since they were so eye catching and all, so Eren probably did anyway.

"Which one?"

"Spade."

"Floor?"

"Top. And before you ask, left."

Levi was mildly surprised by how many details Eren had asked for.

"Good, we're neighbors. I just moved into the one on the right, on the top floor."

Levi was glad that Eren hadn't left him anything to drink, since he was sure he would've spilled it out.

"I could give you a ride if you have anyone to open the door to your apartment."

Eren was a nice person, even in this life.

Levi shook his head.

"Not for a week, my sisters are on a business trip."

"Unfortunate."

"Yeah."

Levi was starting to get irritated by the amount of Whatsapp messages Eren received, since the notifications came with the most annoying sound he had ever heard.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"Gonna call a few friends."

A few messages later, Eren was speaking to him again.

"Listen, I don't want this to sound weird, and I promise I'm not going to try anything weird, but since we're neighbours and all, you could stay with me for the week. I mean only if you want to. Like… god, I still sound suspicious as fuck."

Levi would've chuckled or at least done something of the sort if not for his bad mood. Honestly, Eren had never been the sharpest knife in the drawer even in his past life, but Levi wouldn't have thought he'd be naïve enough to invite someone he had technically just met to his house.

"You'd offer your house to a complete stranger?"

Eren looked sheepish.

"Well, you look trustworthy."

Levi raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?"

"Y-Okay well, I might've acted a little too casual around you, but it's because I feel like I know you, okay? Which comes with a sense of trust, naturally."

Levi still didn't quite get it, but it appeared that even if Eren didn't have his memories, he had at least the _feelings_ of the past Eren.

Because Levi was sure that from outside, in his current attire of wet hair, overly baggy and alcohol-reeking clothing, added to the fact that he drank and smoked, and as a bonus that his eyes were mostly steel blue orbs screaming "yeah bitch, of course I'm better than you", he probably looked as trustworthy as a criminal freshly out of jail.

"And I checked that phone over there."

Eren pointed at the table that Levi previously had been sitting at.

Levi had been wrong, reincarnation had indeed made Eren a lot cleverer.

* * *

The drive was more or less comfortable for Levi.

Admittedly, Eren's car _was_ a bit ridiculous. The outside of his BMW was a bright, almost too shiny, orange, and the inside was a dark navy blue, perfect contrast to the vehicle's outer shell. Since Eren obviously didn't smoke, and Levi had manners too good to smoke in someone else's car without their permission, the windows were closed, and the air conditioning system was doing a brilliant job with easing the pain that Levi had just started feeling from his newly earned, bright fluorescent-red sunburns.

Levi didn't know what he was feeling anyway.

When he looked thoroughly into himself, he knew that he was more than a little disappointed that Eren didn't remember his past life, or more specifically speaking, _him_. Because quite frankly, Levi fuzzily remembered the time before he had met the annoying kid, and it was nothing more than going on missions with his team or Erwin and Hanji trying to form some sort of friendship with him, mind you, and the time after Eren had died was almost a complete blur. It was like this with all of them, they all remembered the parts of their lives that they had held precious, with gaping holes between memories.

The time Levi had spent with Eren _had_ been precious.

Levi's world had been, and still was, like a pure white canvas that had drops of colourful paint on it, his life was blank, with no significant meaning, with slight colours like Erwin, Hanji or his squad. Eren had changed that, at first with the green that he had smeared over Levi's life, hope, with the occasional dots and spots of yellow that were his happiness, then by the red of sacrifice that he had painted on it, lastly by the despairing blue that had rained down on the whole thing. Eren had coloured his world. He had shown him what happiness and delight was, what trusting someone utterly and completely felt like, and regrettably, what sort of heavy blow losing all that would be. Eren had taught him how to live.

Levi didn't like to admit he had been changed, and he doubted any human being would admit something like that, but Eren had changed him. He wasn't even sure if the teen knew, since Eren tended to have that sort of affect on people, with his seemingly endless pits of eyes, unwavering determination, and earnest, sincere feelings that he didn't mind share no matter what it was.

All in all, if Levi was given a chance at a life with Eren, free of Titans and all that bullshit, but Eren didn't have his past memories, he'd jump at it. He couldn't really say that he didn't feel at least a tad sad that Eren couldn't share their previous life with him anymore, but Levi was content enough to have Eren with him in this one.

Of course, there was the fact that he wouldn't entirely be free of the guilt that plagued his mind all the time, but fuck all that shit for now.

Levi was happy.

"-vi! Levi! Oh my god, are you even listening?"

Levi snapped put of the trance he had been in.

"What?"

"We're here."

As they walked to Eren's new apartment, Levi, for the first time, actually paid Eren's appearance some real attention instead of just looking at his face like an idiot. The brunet was wearing loose cargo shorts and a plain white t-shirt, hair as messy as always, if not a little bit longer. There wasn't much change with his face, the big turquoise orbs that were probably defying the law of creation itself still on his face and as shiny as ever, the only visible difference being that Eren had actually matured.

True dat.

Eren was older than Levi had ever seen him, presumably over his early twenties already. He was a good fifteen centimetres taller than him now, Levi grudgingly noted, still well tanned, albeit with a more muscular build that Levi was sure his extra years and practice of sports had granted him.

The he remembered something.

He wasn't someone going around telling people how rich he was, because really, he was rich as _fuck_, with his books having already broken Henry Trotter's record and selling like ice cream on a hot day, plus the company's funds under his hand, but he was more silent-mocking type than rub-it-in. Not showing people didn't change that he had a crap load of money though, and that he had paid a huge amount to get this apartment. Really, anyone who lived in the four towers was either a celebrity or just somehow very wealthy, the Spade Tower being the place that the actual owners only sold to important people.

And there was no way Mikasa would've failed in finding Eren if he was, indeed, _that_ well known.

Eren came to an abrupt stop and started to wildly search his pockets for his keys. Something fell down from one of Eren's larger ones, and Levi, being the kind gentleman he definitely was, bent down to pick it up.

Paint. It was a tube of paint. Pink paint, to be specific.

"Are you a painter?" Levi asked.

"Sort of."

Eren, finally having found his keys, pointed at his colourfully decorated mailbox that was next to his door.

_Ellen Jaguar_

Even Levi couldn't keep his surprise hidden.

"You're freaking Ellen Jaguar."

Eren nodded again, and not after a second, the door was open. He readily stepped in, stretched a bit, threw his apartment's and car's keys on the weird red table that was just next to where he had his shoe cabinet.

"Wanna come inside?"

When Levi didn't walk in, Eren felt like he had to ask.

Levi did as Eren said.

Eren was _fucking_ Ellen Jaguar.

Ellen Jaguar was every artist and writer's dream to work with. Anything related to art was his expertise, which included designing clothes, painting, even making logos, and to work with him would cost a fortune, because everything he had made up to date had never failed whatever purpose it had been made for. When he helped with the picture on some canned tomatoes those would sell, when he designed clothes they'd be ordered months before release, and when he drew a book's cover, that book was sure to make it to the Bestsellers.

No one had ever seen this guy's face though, he mostly worked with proxies, and he had no solid company to his name. Levi had tried to get him to make his latest book's cover, but he had been refused rather bluntly, although still through a proxy.

Levi was an admirer of his anyway. He had gotten his hands on a painting of his about a month ago, _Leviathan_ it was called if he remembered correctly, and Levi had paid a fortune to get that, damn thing had cost more than his freaking apartment. Each time Levi made himself a pot of tea, he'd sit on an armchair that he had placed in front of the painting and stare at it until he was tired, look at and take in every small detail of the overly realistic piece of art. That was what made Ellen's paintings unique, no one could make out the difference between a painting of his and the real actual scene of it, or a photo.

He hadn't known that Eren had a talent for art, and Ellen's wasn't just _talent_, it was _genius_.

Levi had found that he himself was talented in literary things a short while after he had joined the Survey Corps, and he had written in his past life too, just not professionally. Everyone was pretty much the same as they once had been, Armin still was a clever kid, Sasha was still obsessed with food, and Mikasa was still classified a wonder child. Maybe Eren hadn't known it in his past life either, since all he had ever done back then was fight Titans and train to fight Titans, or maybe he had known and hidden it from all of them, but regardless, Levi felt a little offended that he didn't know.

Levi noticed that he knew next to nothing about Eren only after that.

"I'm going to make some coffee. Want some?"

Levi nodded.

"Oh and if I were you, I wouldn't touch the walls. The paint still hasn't dried completely."

Paint? Oh.

Eren had painted on the walls.

Levi was sure that Eren didn't know how valuable even a chance to be in this place was.

He sat on Eren's leather couch and waited for a while, until Eren arrived with two cups of coffee and handed one of them to him.

So Eren liked coffee?

_Oh well_, Levi thought, _you don't have to be a kid to learn new things_.

"The TV remote's over there. I'm just going to go make some Sakura flowers on that wall."

He took the tube of pink paint from Levi, disappeared into one of the rooms, and before Levi knew what was going on, appeared again with an overly large palette that had paint smeared messily all over it.

Eren started painting.

The TV remote remained untouched as Levi watched Eren with an intense gaze.

* * *

**So how was it? Good? Bad? Review and tell me!**


	2. Prayer 1: Don't let him remember

Levi woke up next to Eren.

No, not the way your dirty mind wants to imagine it. Levi was lying on the couch, and as soon as he opened his eyes, Eren was grinning at him, face probably a few inches away from his.

Levi didn't even flinch.

"What the fuck?"

"Sorry if I woke you. You just look cute sleeping and I thought I _have_ to draw that."

He almost gaped.

"You _drew_ me?"

"Well yeah, if you have a problem with that I could just toss it in the bin or-"

God, how fucking dense could Eren get?

"Can I see?"

"Sure."

Levi's breath got caught in his throat. This wasn't just a _drawing_, it _had_ to be a _photograph_.

Levi looked at the piece of paper, feeling like he was somehow seeing his reflection. His hair was perfectly coloured and lighted, face half hidden under his bangs, some of the lines that were on his face even in his sleep having been outlined gently, smoothly even, his arm under his head, serving as a pillow.

He glanced at Eren, then at the paper, and then at the unorganized box of Prismacolours and Polychromos that lay on the floor.

Eren had to be a fucking genius.

Of course, Levi had seen many, and trust him with that he really did mean a lot, good artists, who could draw and colour so well anyo4ne would be stunned, and when they used the right supplies, Levi knew that their work would turn out just amazing. Eren was something else though; fucking kid could blend colours so well, not a single sign that he had actually coloured by hand could be seen, his realistic style making it look like a mirror image.

"How do you blend like that?"

"Blend? Trust me, it's the expensive pencils that do all the real work most of the time."

Levi fought with himself to not sound exasperated at Eren's ignorance.

"I've seen one of your tutorials where you draw with fucking basic Faber Castells and it still turns out like this."

Eren blushed.

"Oh well…I… it's a habit I guess."

Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Habit?"

After it became obvious to him that Eren was in discomfort, because really, biting his lower lip and squeezing the poor brown Prismacolour in his hand could probably be described as that, so he decided not to push.

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

Admittedly, Levi _was_ being a bit too straightforward with Eren. Of course, he remembered Eren, in fact he remembered so well it actually hurt, and he could trust him with anything, whether it be his security or his whole fucking _life_, but to Eren he was still a stranger that had called him a brat and needed a place to stay. Even though Eren had his past feelings and instincts, and that was still a _theory_, he knew nothing about Levi, which was probably why he wouldn't just give away such classified information like this away to him. After all, literature was art, and Levi was a writer, he could relate to Eren's hesitation to reveal his methods; he never told other people how he got inspiration or how he wrote, what mood he had to be in to write and what he liked to eat or drink when he was writing.

That was all classified.

Mikasa had noticed of course, being the perceptive girl she always had been, and Petra had known him well enough in the past to know, but that was about it, although Armin had started to build a general structure of how because of the frequency Levi visited his café with his laptop and wrote till his fingers were sore.

But Levi, thinking all this, was truly and utterly wrong when trying to guess how Eren felt.

"I grew up in an orphanage." Eren blurted out, eyes focus on the box of coloured pencils, hands trying to organize them, trembling.

"Mom was murdered when I was nine, and dad disappeared after she died, so I had to be raised there."

Somehow, Eren's words hit Levi pretty hard.

"When I was little, I only had crayons to use and never enough colours, so I kind of learned blending because of that."

Levi wasn't sure if he loathed himself or if it was just a weird feeling he had gotten all of a sudden

Why was Eren always the one to get the cruel fate?

In his past life, Levi had been a street kid, stealing and selling to live, always under danger of death by the hand of another human. Then, God had played a sick joke on him and sent Erwin, a fucking _soldier_ in the _Survey Corps_, and that was how Levi had gained a cause for himself, a reason to live, and an actual life.

That was how he had met Eren.

Eren, on the other hand, had seen his mother get eaten by a Titan when he was barely nine, and had lived the rest of his life under the weight of the fact that he could've saved her. Of course, that would've been impossible, but Eren was like that, blaming himself for everything regardless of what.

Then, he had found out that his father had hidden humanity's salvation in their freaking _basement_, that he could transform into a 15 metre tall Titan, and that up from that point, he was Humanity's Last Hope.

Humanity's Last Fucking Hope. A fucking fifteen-year-old teenager.

Levi knew that Eren had felt incredibly confused, having turned into what had killed his mother, and he also knew how Eren had hidden that from everyone.

Eren had hidden _everything_.

He had hidden his hurt after being betrayed by his friends, he had hidden his agony after causing the death of Levi's first squad, and he had always hidden his thoughts around _Levi_.

Kid had watched his mother die. Kid had watched his friends turn into traitors. Kid had watched his friends die. Kid had watched his _sister_ die.

Eren had been _forced_ to watch _everything_.

Now, when Levi looked at his present life, he knew that he had lived a better life than most of the people that had ever roamed earth. His first foster parents had maybe not adopted him permanently but they hadn't treated him like shit, he had had a bed, food, and liberty to buy things for himself whenever he wanted, even when he was young. When Petra's parents had adopted him, Levi had been greeted with a life of luxury, rooms of spectacular opulence, the most advanced technology humanity had to offer, whatever he fucking _wanted_.

He had been perfectly content.

He had found his old squad when Petra had started college and accidentally met them, and he had found the second Special Ops squad in Armin's café when Mikasa had blackmailed him into buying her a milkshake on a rainy day.

Levi had every fucking thing he had ever wanted now, since Eren had joined in.

Whereas said brunet hadn't even been granted his _memories_.

_It wasn't fucking fare._

"When I was about fifteen a teacher that really cared for me bought me those classic Faber Castells that you saw. Since they were my first coloured pencils, I know how to use them like they're my limbs."

Levi fought the urge to bite his lip.

"And since I never got any proper education about art, I didn't even attend university, I developed my own unique way of doing things pretty easily."

Eren sighed, finally having finished stuffing his pencils back in the box that Levi now identified as a shoe-box, which Eren had coloured and decorated of course, and Eren got up, which was when Levi noticed that he was wearing training clothes.

"Anyway, I'm going outside for my morning jog. It'll probably take about half an hour."

He handed Levi a fresh set of clothes.

"Those are what I wore a few years ago and they fit me pretty well even back then so they'll probably fit you."

Shit, was that an insult?

"I hope you like pancakes because I made plenty. There's cake in the fridge and I bet many other things, chocolate chip in the jar next to the stove, money on the counter, my laptop's in my bedroom, car keys are on the table next to the shoe cabinet, and here,"

He gave him the two keys that were held together by some ridiculous keychain,

"Are the spare keys to the apartment."

Levi looked at him, lips slightly parted, eyes reflecting incredulousness.

"You trust me that much?"

Eren shrugged.

"There's nothing worth money in here except the TV and computer anyway. Besides, what would you want to steal something for when I'm practically offering them to you?"

Obviously, Eren didn't know that a painting of his could be worth more than a million dollars.

"What keeps you from thinking that I'm not going to take your car and just disappear?"

Eren laughed.

"This is _America_, Levi. You could easily get arrested for taking my car anyway, so you probably won't stray too much from inside the city."

Levi seriously doubted he ever would understand how reincarnation worked.

* * *

"Oh, you waited for me?"

Eren looked surprised.

"It _is_ your house, so I thought it would be rude of me if I started without you."

After receiving a grin from Eren, and Levi wondered just how someone could look that attractive with one, Levi put Eren's sketchbook that he had stared at for the entire half hour down, getting up and heading for the kitchen after the brunet. Eren prepared everything he thought was needed for breakfast in about five minutes.

Levi wouldn't eat breakfast like _this_ most of the time.

Mikasa had a very busy schedule so she would probably be up at 6 o'clock to eat breakfast, and out of their apartment about an hour later. Since Petra was still a student in college, her schedule was quite unorganized, one day she'd be sleeping till noon and the other she'd have to wake up before Mikasa, and even then she mostly just filled her stomach with a bowl of cereal or just tagged along with Auruo and co to have something outside.

Thus, Levi never really _had_ breakfast.

A smoothie, a pot of tea, coffee, or at the worst case, a granola bar was all Levi needed.

He found it overrated anyway, the last time he had had proper breakfast was probably before he and Mikasa had moved out, about eight years ago, when the staff at his parents' mansion still prepared everything for them. Because really, Levi's cooking tasted like gross most of the time, and no one, not even himself, was confident to try some, mostly because they were afraid to return home with a bad case of food poisoning.

Lunch would be different.

Levi always had products from the nearest bakery in his kitchen precisely because of that. What he had depended on his mood, really, but it was always something _sweet_. Sometimes a slice of Devil's Cake or some Strawberry shortcake it would be, maybe some Red Velvet cupcakes or Lemon Biscuits, and if he was in a mood good enough, Levi would make himself some chocolate or strawberry milkshake using the blender that Mikasa had bought because she was tired to go out to buy milkshakes whenever she wanted one.

Even his milkshakes had turned out as terrible messes before Petra -bless her, she was such an angel- had left him detailed instructions on how to make one correctly.

His sweet tooth was so sharp, Petra had written to add _extra_ sugar _three_ times.

And chocolate chip cookies were always his _favourite_.

So, staring at the giant cake and cookies on the table that had been placed next to a plate of pancakes with maple syrup, Levi felt like he was in heaven.

It just got better when Eren arrived with two milkshakes.

"Strawberry or vanilla?"

Levi would've said strawberry if not for the sake of his image.

"Vanilla."

Eren set both of them down and scurried away with an enthusiastic expression to appear again with a box of Ben & Jerry's.

"Tea's brewing. Do you want anything else?"

What did Eren think he was, some ungrateful bastard?

"Are you kidding me? This is the best fucking breakfast I've ever _seen_."

Eren laughed.

"Glad you like it. I made the sweets myself, so I'd be happy to know what you think."

Levi eagerly took a bite of the cake.

Then stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

Then cut a piece of the pancakes.

Eren was either the fucking god of bakery or had been sent by said deity to earth in order to award humanity.

"This has to be a joke. Are you sure you made all these?"

Eren nodded.

Come to think of it, he hadn't been much different in his past life.

Eren had always known how exactly Levi liked his drinks and meals. The raven remembered secretly spying on Eren and his friends one day, while they were in the kitchen, and Eren telling all the clueless kids how to peel potatoes so that Levi could actually eat them. Really, Levi knew that something as small as peeling potatoes had, at the time, seemed ridiculously easy to all the new recruits of Squad Levi, but it wasn't that simple when Levi wanted them peeled _symmetrically_.

And the fact that Eren had known just how he liked things was precisely why he had been the one in charge of brewing his tea whenever they had some, doing his laundry, and cleaning his office.

Levi almost chuckled.

And then it smacked him in the face like a Titan had hit him.

"How did you know I liked sweets?"

Eren was just eating an apple, wasn't he?

And really, from outside, there were three really good guesses that one could make about Levi. 1. Bastard looks smug but good looking. 2. Bastard probably killed a puppy before coming here. 3. Bastard probably has nothing to do with anything sweet that God has blessed us with.

But Eren in his past life had known about that, because the few times they had actually gotten their hands on some sugar, he'd always dumped half of it in his tea and used the other half to make him sweet bread after gathering all the needed ingredients, and the one blessed time they had found chocolate and milk in Sina, Eren had made him hot chocolate.

Brat had known him like the palm of his hand.

Eren thought for a while, but it seemed to Levi that he couldn't find an answer.

"I don't know actually. I just took one look at you and thought I gotta bring him some chocolate and tea."

And that clarified the doubt Levi had about Eren having his past instincts and feelings, which probably meant there was hope for him to remember.

Of course, you couldn't just tell an amnesiac person who they were, because that would all but fry their poor, already conflicted brain, and in Eren's case it would be impossible to tell him straightaway, since "the Titans in my books were real, humanity lived inside walls, and you could transform into a 15-metre tall Titan. Oh, and did I mention that we all died and were reincarnated? Well, now I did." wasn't really the most logical explanation, but they could be reminded slowly and given small hints. Levi was sure that the staff of Armin's café, Hanji, Erwin, the previous Special Ops squad, and _Mikasa_ of all, would be able to create enough indications and re-livings of Eren's past to make him remember in less than a freaking _month_.

But did he really want that?

Did he really want Eren to remember his past? Would _Eren_ want to remember? Would remembering that a Titan had eaten his mom do him any good? Would he take pleasure in finding that his friends had betrayed him and all of fucking humanity? Would he like his friends' deaths to plague his mind?

_Fucking hell Levi, those are pitiful excuses._

He didn't know which part of him it was that pulled him back into having control of his brain, but Levi realized what the reason for his hesitation was only after that.

_I don't want him to remember._

This didn't have anything to do with Eren, it was about _Levi_. Levi didn't want Eren to remember how he had beaten him in the courtroom, how he had manhandled him even after that, how he had chained him to a bed in a dungeon, how he had treated him like some insignificant brat, and most of all, how he had _killed_ him.

Levi didn't want that.

Levi didn't want Eren to hate him.

He knew that keeping everything from Eren wasn't what he was supposed to do, and that he was being incredibly selfish, but his desire to start over in a safe world was so great, he failed to see everything.

Humans were fickle.

And Levi had been Humanity's _Strongest Fucking Soldier_.

So, when Eren suggested they go to Armin's café after breakfast, Levi had already finished planning the elaborate way in which he would deceive every single person that had known Eren.

* * *

Armin was staring at them, Levi had caught him a few times.

He wasn't the only one either, Connie was in a _disguise_, wearing sunglasses and peering at them over the newspaper in his hands from the table that was behind Eren, Jean was bringing him tea every two minutes in order to have an excuse, and Levi could already hear a few customers that were complaining about how their orders were late, which probably meant that Sasha too was looking at them from the small, circular window on the kitchen door.

_Perfect._

Levi got up with Eren's sketchbook, ignoring said brunet's curious glance, and sat down in front of Connie, snatching the newspaper from his hands.

"You know, if you have something to say, you should just say it and stop staring."

Connie looked _terrified_.

And all the better, Jean arrived with tea a few seconds later.

"So Jean, why don't you go get Armin and Sasha so that you can all spill out what's stuck in those damn throats of yours?"

If Jean looked any less terrified than Connie, then Levi was definitely blind.

So he wasn't surprised at all when the crew was gathered in a few very short moments.

"What is it that you've been staring at me for, shitty brats?"

Armin gulped.

"You were sitting with Eren."

Levi faked a laugh.

"That's not Eren. He's Ellen Jaguar."

Surprisingly, the one who dared to speak next was Jean.

"Either he's Eren, or Eren's long lost twin's incarnation. Seriously, did you see him?"

"And did you forget what we talked about yesterday?"

Armin had some sort of fierce look in his eyes now, no doubt because his brother reflexes were kicking in.

"I didn't. But that guy,"

He pointed at Eren with his thumb,

"Is Ellen Jaguar. Want proof? Here's his sketchbook."

He calmly put the sketchbook on the table and let them look at each page like they had seen a fucking miracle, patiently, but with his usual, bored expression.

"How do I know you didn't just buy this?"

Armin was clever, Levi had to give him credit for that.

"Because even I can't afford so many of his work without going bankrupt. And the last page has my drawing. Look at the date and the signature, then tell me what you see."

Sure enough, Connie, who had taken it upon himself to turn the pages, froze when he reached the last one, letting Armin take a good look at it.

"Besides,"

Levi almost smirked,

"Why would I want to hide Eren, you fucking brat?"

Sasha scratched her head.

"Well that's true. Good enough for me, I'll be heading back to the kitchen now."

Connie got up with her too, and Jean was called by a customer a few seconds later, so the only one that remained glaring at Levi was Armin.

"I'm not entirely convinced," he almost hissed,

"But I'll go along with it for now."

Levi almost sighed when Armin got up too.

"And Mikasa will be here in a week anyway. We'll probably see what's what when that happens."

Shit

Levi had entirely forgotten about _that_.

* * *

After Levi and Eren got back, they resumed their positions from last night. Eren made coffee and started painting again, while Levi just contented himself with watching him.

That was when Eren's phone rang.

"Oh hey. How are you? I'm fine. What do you mean? Seriously!? That's awesome! Are you three still there? Oh. You're such a party pooper sometimes. Alright, alright we can discuss that too. Yeah, I'm on my way. Got it. Bye."

Eren hurriedly put his art supplies away and changed his clothes, pocketing his car keys, wallet and phone.

"Ah, Levi, I'm going out to meet my friends. It's for business, so I'll probably be sober when I'm back. You know where the essentials are. Oh and if you get too tired of just sitting there, you can always go inside my studio and just- you know- look around."

With that, Eren was gone.

Excitement was bubbling inside Levi.

Ellen Jaguar was a living _master_ of arts, and Levi knew that even if Eren feigned ignorance, he himself knew it all too well. Being allowed to go inside his studio was a chance no mortal being in their right mind would refuse, and Eren probably wasn't stupid enough to trust everyone he met with his artwork.

Levi was honoured.

Honestly, he would've thought that Eren would have a gigantic studio probably as big as his apartment, and his apartment was probably the most spacious one that one could find, so finding that Eren had just broken the walls between four of his rooms to make space for his studio came as a surprise.

What he found inside was even more surprising.

Eyes.

Eren had countless canvases hung on the walls, and all of them were paintings of eyes.

There were other paintings too, piled in the far right corner of the room, a few tall stacks of sketchbooks at the other side, other boxes and pencil sets, which he guessed held Eren's art supplies, and a suitcase that he knew was a full set of Copic markers. Levi wondered vaguely how Eren could treat all these precious things (even his art supplies combined were worth a small fortune) with so little care, before his attention returned to the paintings that were on the walls.

Levi knew those eyes.

On one of the walls, Levi could see Auruo, Gunter, Erd, and Petra's eyes, on another Ymir, Annie, Berthold, and Reiner's, and on the last one, the eyes of the Special Ops. Armin and Mikasa's eyes had been painted on bigger canvases, so had Reiner's, Erwin's, and Petra's, but the biggest one, Levi knew even better than those.

His own eyes.

Levi stared like a dumb fish.

Of course they looked different, his eyes in the painting were a lot older, not to mention hardened, emotionless, maybe even _dead_. Levi could see pain and sadness in them, frustration burning like flames, and solitude just stuck there like an annoying fly on a window. Those were not his eyes anymore. They _had been_ his.

Levi knew that there was no similarity one could find between his eyes and the ones on the wall except their colour.

And he knew that it was the case with the others.

Armin's eyes in the painting were glistening with what Levi presumed was tears, Erwin's almost freezing cold, and Mikasa's actually filled with hatred.

Levi had witnessed those scenes.

But that didn't mean he wanted to _remember_ them.

When Eren was back, Levi was still staring at the eyes.

"What do you think about them?" Eren asked.

Because really, Levi was staring at them as if he had found his long-lost sister.

"I think you have a weird fetish for eyes."

Levi heard Eren laugh.

"Actually no. I always see these in my dreams."

He gave an unimpressed sigh.

"Amazing artwork, but I'm not convinced."

He laughed again.

"You're a messy artist."

"Cut me some slack, I just moved in."

"How can you even fit all your things in this small place?"

"Oh that? I have another flat just downstairs. I use that one entirely as a studio."

Levi rolled his eyes.

"Is that one as messy as this one?"

"Worse."

And he sighed.

"If you'd allow me to, I could organize both of your studios for you. It's only fair that I do something in return for you taking me in."

"You really don't have to."

"I _offered_ to."

"Well okay then. If you won't be bored or anything, that would actually be really nice."

Eren didn't know two grand things.

Levi was a clean freak, and damn good at hiding his emotions.

* * *

On day four, Levi started wondering whether he'd make it out of Eren's studio alive. The smaller one had taken him three whole days to finish cleaning, probably a hell lot of cleaning products, and on Eren's side, a few apple pies that he had baked (maybe a few other cakes and cookies), but this way, he knew that he could gather all the information he needed easily.

He was a genius, wasn't he?

Levi knew that artists mostly got inspiration from their dreams, or at least by their daily life, so if Eren had any of his memories, he had probably painted them, because really, them being hard to ignore, even Levi had written his books on those goddamned things.

So far, the only things he had found were the eyes, and since those held too many different emotions for Eren to recognize (and not to mention that there was a huge gap in age between them in the paintings and now) them in real life, it was probably safe.

Besides, Levi enjoyed cleaning anyway.

He had separated Eren's sketchbooks by their contents, put the watercolour blocks and coloured pencil ones in different stacks, and piled all his marker pads in a corner with all his Copics (which was a ridiculous amount really) found the previously discarded original boxes of all his Prismacolours, Polychromos, and Albrecht Durer's, arranging the poor coloured pencils that had all been dumped in a few boxes by colour. Levi had done plenty much the same thing with Eren's various tubes of paint, put the oil ones in the boxes that he had managed to empty after getting all the coloured pencils out, organized the bottled acrylics in a cupboard that Eren fortunately had, and put all of Eren's watercolours in a gigantic box that said brunet had specially coloured and added the calligraphy _watercolours _on.

And that was only the things he had done in the _smaller_ studio.

Eren had promised that all he had downstairs were his soft pastels, a few art blocks, and graphite pencils besides his various paintings, drawings and sculptures anyway.

So Levi guessed that he was just getting started.

"What do you want me to bake today?"

Levi hadn't realized Eren was there until he heard him speak.

Turning around with the two cleaning dusters that he held in his hands like swords, Levi took off the bandana he had tied over his mouth (he didn't know why Eren had so many white bandanas but he had said that he cleaned with them too, a habit from the past Levi guessed) he looked at Eren almost with the eyes of a puppy.

"Cake?"

"Flavour?"

"Chocolate?"

"And strawberry milkshake?"

Levi nodded.

It was remarkable how short a time it had taken them to bond. Levi would've felt content to act around Eren the way he had acted around him in the past from the beginning too, but Eren, who had only met Levi a few days ago, was doing great with guessing what Levi liked and didn't like.

The sweets were one thing, but knowing how he did laundry, cooked, and that he wasn't exactly a fan of wearing shoes inside his house was something completely else.

Eren hadn't left when Levi pulled the cloth draped over that one gigantic painting.

Levi found himself staring at Eren, Berthold, Reiner, and Annie.

"Who are these?"

He was almost fighting to keep control over his voice, knowing that it would come out as an angry hiss if he didn't.

"Them? They're my friends."

Friends?

Ha.

More like _traitors_.

"We met in the orphanage when I was nine. Oh except Annie. We met when Reiner, Bert and I were freshly out of there."

Levi felt the urge to murder the three more than ever.

"Actually they're about to come over. Wanna meet them?"

Levi wasn't all that eager, but he did want to teach those bastards a valuable lesson.

The bell rang two or so hours later.

Eren opened the door.

"Oh my god Eren, this whole place smells like paint!"

Levi recognized that one as Reiner.

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm a painter?"

"Yeah, but isn't your studio downstairs?"

"I have one here too."

"You're _crazy_."

"Aww, I love you too."

Levi just stared at them from the kitchen, carefully so that they didn't actually see him.

"You painted on the walls, Eren?"

That was Berthold.

"I was bored and too lazy to go out and buy canvases. Besides, isn't bringing me those your job, Reiner?"

"Yeah well, I decided it was time I got a life."

"It was a wise choice."

And that was Annie.

"By the way Eren," Annie got on her toes,

"Happy birthday."

And gave Eren a peck on the lips.

A fucking _peck_ on _Eren's_ fucking _lips_.

Levi was seeing red.

"Oh my god, you remembered? I thought you had forgotten."

Annie looked offended.

"I'm not saying anything about Reiner, but Bert and I wouldn't."

Eren laughed.

"Anyway, we didn't bring cake because you probably made one already," Reiner sniffed the air,

"Ooh, new recipe. I'm guessing orange and chocolate. So we just brought lots of booze and your presents. You love us, right? Of course you do."

Levi shot out from the kitchen right at that moment, when Berthold started unpacking the boxes that held their booze.

"Ah guys, this is Levi."

Eren probably didn't notice how his friends were looking at Levi.

"Levi, these are my best buddies Berthold and Reiner. And this beauty,"

He put his arm around Annie's waist,

"Is my girlfriend Annie."

Eren noticed the tension in the air only after that.

"Do you guys -uh- know each other or something?" Eren asked.

"You could say that." Reiner hissed.

"Rivaille."

Annie had already gotten out of Eren's possessive grip, having a glaring contest with Levi.

And said raven was too angry to think straight by that point.

"Hey Eren, can I borrow your car?"

"Sure, where are you-"

Levi had already disappeared before he completed his sentence.

* * *

Eren was enjoying himself _tremendously_, Reiner could see that.

They had just started the party, but that didn't change how good he felt even now. The plate that held the cake was on the table in the living room, next to bottles and bottles of beer, Berthold and he had settled themselves on two of Eren's black leather armchairs, letting him and Annie take the couch.

And Eren was just about to get his presents.

"Okay, this one's from Annie."

Eren opened the small package carefully, saving the wrapping in case he wanted to use it on something later. He always did that, collecting things that had patters so that he could copy them on his paintings or the various logos he designed.

And he found a small jewelry box inside.

"Annie, are we getting married or something?"

His voice didn't sound surprised, because really, Annie and Eren had been together for seven years, but it did sound confused.

"Not yet."

Annie's voice, on the other hand, was telling him _you__ have to ask __me__. _

But he ignored that.

Eren opened the small box and stared at the ring that was inside, unsurprised, but put it on with a grin.

"But we're _engaged_." Annie corrected, showing him her own hand that had the gold ring.

It had been no secret that Annie wanted to marry, and it was no secret that Eren _didn't_ want to marry yet either, so they had just settled on making it known to the public that they were _taken_. Annie probably wanted to make people know that all they could do was check Eren out, because said extremely hot man had an extremely hot girlfriend. Besides, Eren had agreed to getting married at _some_ point, just not immediately, so the term wasn't entirely wrong.

"Aww, you're sweet, but I don't want to see you two making out."

"I _so_ hate you."

"Feelings returned. This one's from Bert."

Reiner handed Eren a very large box that was wrapped in shiny blue, and Eren knew what was inside, because what they had with Berthold was a _tradition_.

"So what is it this year, Bert? Meissen? Worcester Royal? Antiques?"

Berthold gave a smile.

"Royal Crown Derby."

"Ooh, my favourite."

"I'm sure you'll like it, because it's from their new collection."

Everyone that knew Eren had at least a basic understanding of his love for baking. Passion, Eren chose to call it, there were times when he got so caught up in baking things he forgot to finish whatever work he had accepted for the month and caused a hell lot of messes that Reiner and Annie would have to inevitably clear, being his most trusted proxies. Baking somehow made Eren forget that he was on sweet Earth most of the time, he had described the feeling as walking on the surface of water, and as ridiculous a joy it was, it was one of the few things that made Eren happy.

Despite his outer appearance, they all knew that Eren was probably not so happy inside.

And Eren being happy was what they all wanted.

So, his weird habits were mostly ignored amongst them. Even when they had been living in the orphanage, Berthold and Reiner had made sure to save their rarely given sweets for Eren, and they'd get sweets about twice in a year unless someone made a generous donation, so that wasn't a lot, really.

He vaguely remembered how confusing it had been to find that Eren didn't have the memories of his past life. Reiner had waited for Eren to shout at him, a few accusations, or a declaration of hatred, definitely not Eren's whining about how he hated maths. They had warmed up nevertheless, because really, Reiner wasn't stupid enough to get his past life mixed with this one. Eren was a _friend_ now, a _brother_, not the enemy, or the Coordinate, or a soldier.

And Reiner was no longer a _warrior_.

So there was nothing keeping them from interacting with each other.

Such was probably the case with Berthold and Annie too, Reiner guessed. He was sure that none of them, himself included, regretted what they had done in the past, but this was a new lifetime, one that they could spend as freely as they wanted, since they were released of their mission. And being honest, Reiner felt like he owed Eren this, since they had betrayed him in the worst way possible after years of close friendship.

Eren was finally finished unpacking the box.

"Dear God, I think these are the best I've ever had, Bert. Thanks."

Even Reiner thought this was the best tea set Eren had ever gotten, and he knew that in the following days all three of them would be victim of his calls to come and test his new flavours of tea and pastry recipes.

The teacups, the small saucers, the dessert plates, and the teapot all had the same elaborate design, shiny golden ornaments on polished black, and pink roses wherever it was empty.

He sighed. At least they looked pretty.

"And here's mine."

He waited until Eren came back from the giant showcase that covered one of his walls completely, knowing that he was probably trying to make space for his new tea set. When he finally placed it somewhere and sat himself on the couch again, he looked more eager than before.

Eren opened Reiner's box.

Much to his dismay, there were two other packages inside.

Thankfully though, they didn't have any patterns on them, so Eren just ripped the paper of the first one.

"Ooh, new Prismacolours. Right on time Reiner, I'm almost running out of soft cores."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that Eren had heaps of pencils from other coloured pencil brands, but still preferred the soft cored Prismacolours to any.

"You'll like the next one."

Eren ripped the next one's wrapping too.

"Is this what I think it is, Reiner?"

"Yep."

Eren slowly opened the album, looking at each of the pictures carefully, almost trembling.

"How did you even find these?" Eren's voice was shaky.

"Bert and I did a small research."

In the album were Eren's childhood photos, taken with his mom and dad. Then he could see the only photo they had ever had taken in the orphanage, Eren laughing next to Berthold and Reiner. The next few pages showed them when Bert and Reiner had started college, and Eren had first started painting, with a brush in his hand and paint smeared over his white V-neck. Another one was a photo taken when they had just met Annie, the next page showing Annie asking Eren to come to their graduation ball with her, and the two dancing at said occasion.

"Thank you- I mean this is…I think I'm gonna cry."

Annie smacked him on the head.

"Just drink your beer."

Eren laughed.

"I might be having the best birthday party I've ever had."

"What are you, stupid? This isn't even a party yet! Bert, bring the booze!"

After a while of wild drinking, a few truth or dares, and a swearing contest Reiner had engaged in with Eren, said brunet finally remembered what had happened only a few hours ago.

"So you guys know Levi?"

Reiner could barely keep himself from swearing again.

"Not really, we just confused him with Rivaille."

Eren looked confused at Annie's answer, but Reiner was grateful as hell to have that girl on their side.

"Rivaille?"

"Yeah. A thug. Reiner beat him up pretty bad the one time he tried to touch me."

Eren cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you sure? Because Levi didn't seem all that happy to see you guys either."

Reiner almost froze when Annie failed to answer that, but his old devious side took charge right at that moment.

"Did you ever see someone that was happy after being glared at by Annie?"

Eren thought for a while.

"…Point taken. A misunderstanding it was then."

Both he and Berthold nodded, while Annie, being the genius she was, changed the topic skillfully.

"So when do we get the keys to the apartment?"

Oh that.

Reiner had almost forgotten.

Probably due to a past trauma, Eren felt extremely uncomfortable when alone, to the point of hating it. Whenever he went out, one of them would go with him, and when they didn't, they'd always text him to make sure he was doing fine. It wasn't like Eren was an antisocial freak, quite the opposite, and even though he had proved countless times that he was perfectly capable of handling himself, he still didn't feel all that good alone. Having come back from a school trip that they had attended as supervisors just five days ago, Berthold, Annie, and he had just finished packing up to move here, which was why Eren had stayed alone this whole time.

Levi was a miscalculation on their part, but whatever.

"Actually I can give them to you right now, but mind moving in four days later? Because Levi is staying here and all…"

Reiner recovered from that in about two seconds.

"Sure."

And then it struck Eren.

"I wonder where he went…"

* * *

Levi felt like he was the biggest idiot to have ever lived.

How could he have been a fool enough to think that everything would be the same? _Eren_ had changed, _he_ had changed, the whole fucking _world_ had changed, and he had thought that their relationship would've been the same?

_Fool. Stupid. Idiot. _

There was a weird pang in his chest, and even the half empty bottle of vodka on his table wasn't helping. Somehow, instead of helping him lose all his thoughts and relax, alcohol made all the pain he felt heavier, courtesy of the bastard watching everyone from above. He didn't know why he was so badly shaken, and when all the normal, welcomed feelings in his heart sunk down into the abyss and the insecurity of hopelessness took their place, because he had experienced despair countless times, seen what would remain when one lost all feeling of warmth and idea of truth, but never had he felt so lost, so in darkness, let alone this _fragile_.

But there was one thing that Levi knew at that moment.

Eren wasn't _his_ anymore.

It was as if someone was playing with them like puppets and purposefully telling him that Eren always belonged with those traitors, that even if Eren had chosen their side in the past he always would be one of them, that whatever he did Levi wouldn't be able to change that.

That Levi couldn't do anything.

Levi felt what it was like to be tied down, what desperation was, exactly at that moment, when his heart spiraled down into a dark pit that seemingly had no end.

And Levi held back tears.

Eren was _theirs_.

But Levi wouldn't give up easily; he just needed a good slap to remind him just what he was doing.

So, seeing the all too familiar figure of his old friend was, on his side, the best thing that could've happened.

* * *

Mikasa looked up from the papers she was signing.

She knew this feeling, it wasn't anything foreign, but it had been good long years since she had last felt it, so she was a little surprised.

This weird sensation was from her past life.

"Ma'am, is anything the matter?" One of her assistants asked.

Mikasa made sure that what she had felt was what she thought it was.

"No. Carry on."

There was no mistaking it.

"Finish everything as fast as you can."

Her Eren senses were tingling.

And Mikasa just couldn't do nothing and sit back while he was so close.


End file.
